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Optics is my guess? Xi didn't want it to get in the way of the Olympics?Why did Putin wait so long to make this move after all the vegetable was in office for some time already.
His thoughts on the Ukraine issue pretty much align with mine. Russia and the Minsk Accords were always about a buffer zone between NATO / THE WEST and Russia's Western Borders.Another thoughtful effort from Big Serge -
Big Serge Thought | Substack
Musings and Ponderings. Click to read Big Serge Thought, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.bigserge.substack.com
considering the potential for nucularexchange and the 101st airborne partial employment
Love history don't you?Another thoughtful effort from Big Serge -
Big Serge Thought | Substack
Musings and Ponderings. Click to read Big Serge Thought, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.bigserge.substack.com
considering the potential for nucularexchange and the 101st airborne partial employment
...
The IEA's latest World Energy Outlook shows how Russia's projected gas exports, shown in the chart above, have plunged compared to last year.
- The agency has also significantly cut projected Russian oil exports in the years ahead.
- Under IEA's long-term outlook to 2050, Russia's exports never return to 2021 levels.
Background: Western sanctions, Vladimir Putin's cuts in gas exports to Europe, and Europe's efforts to wean itself off Russian fuels are all slated to erode Russia's market position.
- "Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is prompting a wholesale reorientation of global energy trade, leaving Russia with a much-diminished position," the report notes.
The big picture: The IEA had previously projected a long-term decline in Europe's reliance on Russian energy as the bloc pursued more climate-friendly sources, but now "the rupture has come with a speed that few imagined possible," the agency said....
- The group's analysis notes that Asian buyers will make up some of the difference, but Russia won't find markets for all the huge volumes that once went to Europe.
Now folks are believing "experts" prognostications 28 yrs out ?(more incl. chart and links to primary sources): https://www.axios.com/2022/10/30/putin-russia-oil-gas-energy-ukraine-invasion
...
But Monday's resumption of Ukrainian grain shipments suggested that Moscow was stopping short of attempting to impose a new blockade.
Ukraine and Russia are both among the world's largest exporters of food. For three months, the U.N.-backed deal has guaranteed Ukrainian exports can reach markets, lifting a Russian de facto blockade on Ukraine. The news that Moscow was pulling out of the deal had sent global wheat prices soaring by more than 5% on Monday morning.
The ships that sailed on Monday included one hired by the U.N. World Food Programme to bring 40,000 tonnes of grain to drought-hit Africa.
...
Türkiye is determined to continue its efforts for the Black Sea grain export deal despite Russian hesitancy, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday after Moscow suspended its participation in the initiative at the weekend.
"Even if Russia behaves hesitantly because it didn't receive the same benefits, we will decisively continue our efforts to serve humanity," Erdoğan said told an event in Istanbul.
...
Separately, a U.N. spokesperson said the first of 40 planned ship inspections on Monday had been completed in Istanbul waters with a team of just U.N. and Turkish members, rather than the previous four-member teams including Russians and Ukrainians before Moscow's suspension of its participation.
Grain ships sail despite Moscow's pullout from deal; missiles rain on Ukraine
Ships brought grain from Ukrainian ports on Monday, suggesting Moscow had stopped short of reimposing a blockade that might have caused world hunger, despite suspending its participation in a U.N. programme to safely export grain from the war zone.www.reuters.com
...
3. What is causing the blockade?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his generals have spoken openly about their desire to capture Ukraine's largest port, Odesa, and possibly the entire Ukrainian coastline -- which would throttle Ukraine's economy.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, there was a possibility that the Russian navy might launch an assault on Ukraine's southwestern coast from the sea.
By capturing Snake Island, a strategically important slice of dry land off Ukraine's western coast, on day one of the war, the Kremlin signaled its intent.
In response to the Russian threat, Ukraine quickly placed mines in the Black Sea near Odesa and other major ports.
In a briefing with ABC News this week, a NATO official said coastal defenses were necessary "in order to deter or thwart a potential Russian amphibious landing."
The Russian government recently said it was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for ships carrying food, in return for the lifting of Western sanctions. It called on Ukraine to de-mine the Black Sea.
However, the U.K. Ministry of Defense accused Russia of "introducing an alternative narrative" to complicate people's understanding of the original cause of the blockade.
Ukraine has only deployed maritime mines, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense said, "because of the continued credible threat of Russian amphibious assaults from the Black Sea."
4. Why do Western leaders accuse Putin of "weaponizing hunger" and is there a solution on the horizon?
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently accused Putin of "using food as a weapon."
The Biden administration and its Western allies make this accusation because Russia's invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked and the Kremlin has the ability to drop its threat on ports such as Odesa.
"If Kyiv solves the problem of de-mining ports, then the Russian navy will ensure unhindered passage of ships with grain to the Mediterranean Sea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded on Tuesday to international criticism.
The White House has already ruled out meeting Russia's demand to drop sanctions in return for an end to the blockade.
What military guarantees Russia could offer Ukraine, in order for Ukraine to demine the Black Sea, is not at all clear.
A senior NATO official offered a blunt assessment to ABC News in the context of Tuesday's back and forth: Ukraine cannot trust anything Russia says.
...
Fair enough. But facts can be verified.Try as I might I find it more and more difficult to trust the US MSM.
“Russia blockaded”. Past tense, back in June.Fair enough. But facts can be verified.
- Russia blockaded Odessa (prevented grain ships from leaving).
- Russia said it would provide a humanitarian corridor for ships carrying food, in return for the lifting of Western sanctions
- "If Kyiv solves the problem of de-mining ports, then the Russian navy will ensure unhindered passage of ships with grain to the Mediterranean Sea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said
- It took a deal brokered with Turkey (which Russia recently withdrew from) to get some shipments out for a short period of time
Yes, grains were exported after the UN deal was brokered. The UN deal was necessary because Russia was blockading the port.Stats Alex cites in video above
Yes. That is what I have been saying. Thank you.“Russia blockaded”. Past tense, back in June.
#1. Sanctions have had zero effect so far.Sanctions are about to slam Russia’s still-booming oil export trade
The “shadow fleet” is not large enough to save Russian oil exports from Western sanctions, according to multiple analysts.www.freightwaves.com
Russia ships half its Oct 1-20 seaborne Urals oil exports to Asia ahead of EU embargo
Russia ramped up seaborne Urals oil exports to Asia to 50% of the total over the Oct. 1-20 period ahead of a December EU embargo on the state's oil and products, according to traders and Refinitiv Eikon data.www.reuters.com
Edit to add:
LMEWEEK-Pressure builds on London Metal Exchange to boycott Russia
Pressure is mounting on the London Metal Exchange (LME) to block Russian material from its system, with several producers calling publicly for action, which some consumer associations oppose. Russia is a large producer of aluminium, copper and nickel. But the United States is considering...finance.yahoo.com
Don't forget the gold they stole in 2014 from Ukraine. It flew away somewhere on US military planes with blacked out numbers.#1. Sanctions have had zero effect so far.
#2. Yet Oil exports are still moving.
#3. BFD - Gold has been moving to the SGE, Shanghai Gold Exchange . Silver and other metals moving at SMM - Shanghai Metals Market. Most Asian, South America, and M.E. nations have or developing accounts with the Sanghai exchanges.
The ones not are going down with the USSA.
YMMV
It would be interesting to know who is in possession of the Libyan and Iraqi Gold. US numbers didn't change. Maybe the New York Fed Vaults.
If that were only true... you could charge more money... instead they're welfare queens expecting the 'wealthy west' to foot the bill!All those exported uki hookers are causing the inflation in the EU.
Noooo. In Wroclaw poland the ukis are working, hookers or not...If that were only true... you could charge more money... instead they're welfare queens expecting the 'wealthy west' to foot the bill!
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